• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3525-3531
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• 2014

Objective: Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) is a new technique for identifying different malignant tumors using different uptake values between tumor cells and normal tissues. Here we assessed the diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG-PET in patients with testicular cancer by pooling data of existing trials in a meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Central Trials databases were searched and studies published in English relating to the diagnostic value of FDG-PET for testicular cancer were collected. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was used to examine the FDG-PET accuracy. Results: A total of 16 studies which included 957 examinations in 807 patients (median age, 31.1 years) were analyzed. A meta-analysis was performed to combine the sensitivity and specificity and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), from diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratios (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR). SROC were derived to demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET for testicular cancer. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70-0.80) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.84-0.89), respectively. The pooled DOR was 35.6 (95% CI, 12.9-98.3). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.88. The pooled PLR and pooled NLR were 7.80 (95% CI, 3.73-16.3) and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.23-0.43), respectively. Conclusion: In patients with testicular cancer, 18F-FDG-PET demonstrated a high SROC area, and could be a potentially useful tool if combined with other imaging methods such as MRI and CT. Nevertheless, the literature focusing on the use of 18F-FDG-PET in this setting still remains limited.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.50 no.10
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• pp.661-671
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• 2017

The objective of this study was to analyze the flood stage considering the uncertainty caused by the river roughness coefficients and discharge. The methodology of this study involved the GLUE (Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation) to quantify the uncertainty bounds applying three different storm events. The uncertainty range of the roughness was 0.025~0.040. In case of discharge, the uncertainty stemmed from parameters in stage-discharge rating curve, if h represents stage for discharge Q, which can be written as $Q=A(h-B)^C$. Parameters in rating curve (A, B and C) were estimated by non-linear regression model and assumed by t distribution. The range of parameters in rating curve was 5.138~18.442 for A, -0.524~0.104 for B and 2.427~2.924 for C. By sampling 10,000 parameter sets, Monte Carlo simulations were performed. The simulated stage value was represented by 95% confidence interval. In storm event 1~3, the average bound was 0.39 m, 0.83 m and 0.96 m, respectively. The peak bound was 0.52 m, 1.36 m and 1.75 m, respectively. The recurrence year of each storm event applying the frequency analysis was 1-year, 10-year and 25-year, respectively.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.3-14
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• 2018

Background: Both objective body shape and perceived body image have been known to influence the mental health. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of a combination between actual body mass index (BMI) status and perceived body image with anxiety depressive condition (ADC) in Korean men and women. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data of 26,239 subjects ${\geq}20$ years old from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2014). This study performed a Rao-Scott chi-square and multivariate logistic regression analyses reflecting survey characteristics and used a variety of independent variables such as socio-demographics and health behavior factors. Results: With all independent variables considered, people with normal weight who perceived themselves as overweight were more likely associated with ADC than a referent group with normal weight who perceived themselves as normal weight, as shown for both men (odds ratio [OR], 1.52; confidence interval [CI], 1.07-2.15) and women (OR, 1.25; CI, 1.06-1.48). Meanwhile, compared to the referent group, men with underweight who perceived themselves as underweight showed a lower association with ADC (OR, 0.63; CI, 0.41-0.97), whereas women with underweight who perceived themselves as underweight showed its higher association (OR, 1.47; CI, 1.10-1.96). Conclusion: A certain group of people categorized as a combination between actual BMI status and perceived body image showed a relatively high likelihood of having ADC, and the gender difference in the likelihood of having the condition for a group was clear. Therefore, this study suggests the need to identify the group at a high risk of ADC on the basis of actual BMI status and perceived body image and to develop an appropriate mental health management program for the group.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.973-980
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• 2018

Study Design: Retrospective review. Purpose: To identify the trends in stimulator use, pair those trends with various grafting materials, and determine the influence of stimulators on the risk of revision surgery. Overview of Literature: A large number of studies has reported beneficial effects of electromagnetic energy in healing long bone fractures. However, there are few clinical studies regarding the use of electrical stimulators in spinal fusion. Methods: We used insurance billing codes to identify patients with lumbar disc degeneration who underwent anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). Comparisons between patients who did and did not receive electrical stimulators following surgery were performed using logistic regression analysis, chi-square test, and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Results: Approximately 19% of the patients (495/2,613) received external stimulators following ALIF surgery. There was a slight increase in stimulator use from 2008 to 2014 (multi-level $R^2=0.08$, single-level $R^2=0.05$). Patients who underwent multi-level procedures were more likely to receive stimulators than patients who underwent single-level procedures (p<0.05; OR, 3.72; 95% confidence interval, 3.02-4.57). Grafting options associated with most frequent stimulator use were bone marrow aspirates (BMA) plus autograft or allograft for single-level and allograft alone for multi-level procedures. In both cohorts, patients treated with bone morphogenetic proteins were least likely to receive electrical stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received stimulation generally had higher reimbursements. Concurrent posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) (ALIF+PLF) increased the likelihood of receiving stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received electrical stimulators had similar revision rates as those who did not receive stimulation (p>0.05), except those in the multilevel ALIF+PLF cohort, wherein the patients who underwent stimulation had higher rates of revision surgery. Conclusions: Concurrent PLF or multi-level procedures increased patients' likelihood of receiving stimulators, however, the presence of comorbidities did not. Patients who received BMA plus autograft or allograft were more likely to receive stimulation. Patients with and without bone stimulators had similar rates of revision surgery.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.187-199
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• 2010

This study evaluated applicability and confidence of probability rainfalls estimated by the non-stationary rainfall frequency analysis which was recently developed. Using rainfall data at 4 sites which have an obvious increasing trend in observations, we estimated 3 type probability rainfalls; probability rainfalls from stationary rainfall frequency analysis using data from 1973-1997, probability rainfalls from stationary rainfall frequency analysis using data from 1973-2006, probability rainfalls from non-stationary rainfall frequency analysis assuming that the current year is 1997 and the target year is 2006. Based on the comparison of residuals from 3 probability rainfalls, the non-stationary rainfall frequency analysis provided more effective and well-directed estimates of probability rainfalls in the target year. Using Bootstrap resampling, this study also evaluated the parameter estimation methods for the non-stationary rainfall frequency analysis based on confidence intervals. The confidence interval length estimated by the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is narrower than the probability weighted moments (PWM). The results indicated that MLE provides more proper confidence than PWM for non-stationary probability rainfalls.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.377-385
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• 2009

Twenty five female students in Seoul participated and were divided into two group in the experiment of weight loss effect of two treatments. Fourteen students(Treatment A group), randomly chosen from the students, had fed on diet foods and exercised over 8 weeks, and the remaining students(Treatment B group) had fed on diet foods only for the same periods. Weights of 25 students had been measured repeatedly four times at an interval of two weeks during 8 weeks, It resulted from mixed model analysis of repeated measurements data that separate Toeplitz pattern for each treatment group was selected as the optimal covariance pattern. Based upon the optimal covariance pattern model, the baseline effect and time effect were found to be highly significant, but the treatment-time interaction effect was found to be insignificant. Finally, the students with diet foods and exercises were more effective in losing weight than the students with only diet foods were.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.941-950
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• 2019

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms and oral health status in Korean middle-aged women. Methods: We analyzed data from the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI). The final sample consisted of 2,691 adults aged 40-64 years. The Chi-squared test was used to assess the rate of depressive symptoms, oral health status, and relationship between oral health status and depressive symptoms. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between depressive symptoms and oral health status. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 program. Results: Overall, 15.1% of subjects experienced depressive symptoms. The rate of depressive symptoms in self-aware oral health, toothache, and mastication problem groups were 19.6%, 19.9%, and 25.3%, respectively. Compared to other groups, the likelihood (odds ratio) of having depressive symptoms was 1.47 (95% confidence interval [CI] : 1.16-1.88), 1.58 (95% CI: 1.22-2.04), and 1.73 (95% CI: 1.32-2.28) higher in self-aware bad oral health, toothache, and mastication problem groups, respectively. Conclusions: We found an association between depressive symptoms and oral health status. Thus, oral health status should be evaluated as a potential risk factor for depressive symptoms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.1347-1352
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• 2000

The objectives of the study were to examine non-genetic factors that influence somatic cell counts in dairy cattle and to estimate the genetic parameters of somatic cell counts. A total of 34, 097-test day somatic cell count records were obtained from the Zimbabwe Dairy Services Association (ZDSA). The data were from 5, 615 Holstein daughters of 390 sires and 2, 541 dams tested between May 1994 and December 1998. First lactation cows contributed 22, 147 records to the data set, while 11, 950 records were from second and later parity cows. The model for analysis included fixed effects of month of calving, year of calving, stage of lactation, calving interval and test date. Milk yield and age on test day were fitted in the model as covariates. The additive genetic effects pertaining to cows, sires and dams and the residual error were the random effects. The Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood algorithm was used for analysis. The heritability of somatic cell scores was low at $0.027{\pm}0.013$ for parity one cows and $0.087{\pm}0.031$ for parity two and above. Repeatability estimates were $0.22{\pm}0.01$ and $0.30{\pm}0.01$ for the two lactation groups, respectively. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between the somatic cell scores and test day milk production were small and negative. It seems that there is no genetic link between somatic cell counts and milk yield in Holstein cattle in Zimbabwe. The results also seem to indicate that somatic cell count is a trait that is mainly governed by environmental factors.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.197-200
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• 2013

Background: A variety of sociodemographic factors, such as gender, age, household income, and educational level, influence individuals' likelihood of smoking.Work-related factors may also be linked to smoking behavior.We sought to investigate the relationship between smoking and work environment in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to determine whether there was an association between smoking and occupation type (e.g., manual, nonmanual, or service work), night-shift work, and hours worked/week (e.g., <40, 40-48, 49-60, or >60 hours) for 4,685 workers. Regression models were adjusted for sociodemographic variables such as age, recent alcohol consumption, hours slept, educational level, and household income. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 50.1% in men and 7.2% in women. For women, manual workers had 2.34 times [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02-5.36] greater odds of smoking compared with nonmanual workers, whereas service workers had 2.37 times greater odds (95% CI: 1.28-4.40). Furthermore, women who worked 49-60 hours had 2.21 times greater odds of smoking (95% CI: 1.10-3.75) as compared with women who worked 40-48 hours. Conclusion: Women who work long hours or who are employed in service or manual positions are more likely to smoke. These results indicate a need in South Korea to target these specific groups when creating nonsmoking policies.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2002

This paper proposes a frame reliability weighting method to compensate for a time-selective noise that occurs at random positions of speech signal contaminating certain parts of the speech signal. Speech frames have different degrees of reliability and the reliability is proportional to SNR (signal-to noise ratio). While it is feasible to estimate frame Sl? by using the noise information from non-speech interval under a stationary noisy situation, it is difficult to obtain noise spectrum for a time-selective noise. Therefore, we used statistical models of clean speech for the estimation of the frame reliability. The proposed MFR (model-based frame reliability) approximates frame SNR values using filterbank energy vectors that are obtained by the inverse transformation of input MFCC (mal-frequency cepstral coefficient) vectors and mean vectors of a reference model. Experiments on various burnt noises revealed that the proposed method could represent the frame reliability effectively. We could improve the recognition performance by using MFR values as weighting factors at the likelihood calculation step.